Modern lifestyle vs traditional lifestyle for healthy living

Last weekend I went to Shantiniketan to attend my friend’s wedding. He was marrying a bengali girl. I have heard about Bengali cuisine and have tried ‘ Chingri macher malai curry’ in one of the hotels in Mumbai. Hence I was really looking forward to eat some Bengali delicacies. When I arrived at the wedding I saw a stange arrangement. There was no buffet. There were long tables with chairs arranged horizontally like in school and the people were sitting and having lunch on Banana leaf. The food was being served – first came the luchi and aloo dum, then rice, dal, macch bhaja and aloo chorchuri, followed by Mangso bhaat and finally Rosogolla. The whole concept was so slean and the people were not in hurry to eat food……….
The way we eat food has changed. We do not sit and have our food. Modern space crunch has evolved Buffet system which forces us to eat our food while standing and holding the plate in our hand . So we eat in hurry to avoid uncomfortable position and crowd.
We are also eating the snacks, drinks and the main course at a time without any gap. On the top of eat we take heavy desserts like icecream, cake and pasteries which make our digestion slow.
We are also using Maida, oil, butter, salt, sugar and sauces which are unhealthy. Now a days we are offered pasta, chowmein, Chilly babycorn .Usage of vegetables has also become very less or selective. Like people use more babycorn , capsicum, beans , carrot but do not eat vegetables like pumpkin, gourd, papaya, and many other.
Technology has made our life very comfortable. According to Ayurveda when there is a misbalance, (increase of one or decrease in other ) in Vaat, pitta and Kauf then we fall sick. Naturotherapy says that 5 elements – air, soil, sky, water and fire have effect on our body and any change in their effect leads to sickness.
Due to technological advancements we can avoid lot of physical activities. We no longer need to walk to the local market everyday to bring milk…. We can buy it in tetra packs and keep for month in refrigerator.
Early to sleep and early to rise make you healthy and wise no longer holds any importance . People work till midnight and sleep till 9-10 am and then rush to office. There is no time for morning walk or exercise and hence we find so many obese people and children.
We love junk food and fast food , which are easily available outside and it suits our taste buds. No one has time to cook food at home. According to Mahatma Gandhi – one’s food habit convert one’s character. According to Premchand – The purpose of eating is only to give energy to body but today we are living to eat.
We do not maintain a time for eating instead we are eating whenever we feel like and whatever we get……. For example instead of having a breakfast at 8 am and lunch at 12 pm we often eat brunch at 11 am and keep munching something or the other every throughout afternoon. Traditionally people used to live in large families and thus cooking at home and cooking all the meals was must. Moreover they used to take their food together which not only helped in social bonding but also eating healthy and wholesome meal.